Microsoft learn something but they are going to keep the same directions???? Doesn't sound like learning to me!

So what you're saying is I should go ahead and move all my PCs to Linux. I mean, I can't even nest my apps and I have 200 icons on my $*%*ing Start Screen where I have to scroll for about five minutes before I can see the ones to the far right.

Yeah, just what I need. If you need me I'll be living in Linux and happy while you people are lost in endless icons.

Maybe you guys never created folders on your desktop, but I did! And I grouped my SHORTCUTS in various groups according to the tasks I had been assigned that day.

Maybe ... huh ... Maybe Microsoft doesn't understand I am not at work to "video chat" or "make movies" or "join a chat room". No. I'm using my PC to work on projects where I need 20 different apps on a rotating basis and not always the same apps all the time. So here I go again, scroll, scroll, scroll to the right typing to find the things I USED to be able to nest in folders.

Yeah. Moving to Linux. Want to come with me?

Ha ha ha ha! The guy in the next cubicle just came up with a song while trying to find his apps: "Scroll, scroll, scroll your apps, gently in the screen. Wearily, wearily, wearily, productivity is just a dream." (Sung to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat")

What MS SHOULD HAVE learned is to lead, not follow. Produce for those who those who need to produce instead of producing for those who want rainbows and video chats with friends in different bars. My assoicates and I need to produce and Windows 8 (like Office 7) is more about the pretty pictures.

... Hold on! New memo just came out! For those wishing to do so, we can reconvert back to Windows 7. Well, that takes care of the office but my two main home machines are going Linux. Good-bye Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Tell Vista I said "Hi".

Did MS learn from their mistakes? I don't think we know that answer yet. So far they have shown they don't pay attention to user input. Windows 8 and the Office ribbon are 2 examples of this. Fixing your mistakes isn't learning if you continue to make the same ones over and over.

Microsoft is stronger in the cloud and the enterprise data center than people realize. But it is unprepared emotionally to become an IT company, as opposed to a consumer company. It wants to keep the old consumer mantle and Steve Ballmer suffers from nearly terminal Apple envy -- hence the insistence that Windows 8 be a touch screen graphical interface.

Let's face it, 2013 was a disaster for Microsoft. Consumers rejected Windows 8 right out of the shoot, they rejected their tablet, they rejected their cell phone, and consumers are in the process of rejecting their efforts at competing with Amazon in the cloud and competing against Google on many levels. I don't own any Microsoft stock, but I would think about shorting it.

Things will improve when MS finally cries uncle and realizes that a mobile OS is not a desktop OS just as they learned that a desktop OS is not a mobile OS a few years back. Apple knows this, Google knows this, and eventually Microsoft will realize this. Here are some other lessons that Microsoft could learn:

1. Give people a choice. Keep a legacy UI as an option but also allow a new UI if that makes you feel innovative. Honestly people only want three things from their UI. They want it to be secure, stable, and fast. Making it affordable would be a bonus and speed adoption. Windows should not cost more than $50 and should not be version crippled. No one else does that and that is why the other OSes are seeing increased adoption rates.

2. Stop forcing PowerShell upon admins. If you want businesses to adopt new server versions then don't force them to learn PowerShell to enable critical features/functions. A CLI is designed for systems that cannot support a GUI or to enable repetition/batch commands and script automation. It is not efficient for turning things on and off in most cases. For MOST users, figuring out the arcane command sequence takes way more time then checking a box. I do realize that there are folks who live on the command line and more power to them, but they are the minority. PowerShell is a great option to have but it should not be the only one.

3. Lower your license fees; not to mention stop making them so insanely complicated, and you will observe higher adoption rates, less piracy, and increased revenues.

4. People are ONLY buying less PCs/Laptops because the OS and hardware improvements have extended longevity of their current hardware. How many people reading this have had a two or three year old computer and dropped an SSD in it? That easily gives you another one to two years of usefulness due to the speed bump. The average lifespan of a PC/Laptop has gone from 3 to 6 years. I firmly believe that is the cause for at least 70% of the drop in sales. Not because people only want tablets. Tablets filled the gap but in the next two years you will see PC/Laptop sales increase as these older machines become unusable and start to fail. You cannot comfortably operate Excel or Word (and many other business applications on a tablet!!!) The other issue is Windows 8. How many people have you heard say "I need a new laptop but I don't want Windows 8"? Come out with Windows 8.2 and a start menu, with Metro as an optional screen that can be turned off and you will see sales surge. I know it sounds silly to the "I love change", bleeding edge types, but that is the way most end users feel.

The solution isn't difficult it just requires some humility and willingness to listen to their customers, what they are actually saying, not what MS wants to hear.

I agree that Microsoft's prices could be sharper but the S2 Pro is not just a tablet. It's a Ultrabook replacement that's every bit as capable, if not faster than most. Unfortunately it's a tablet too and folks look at that price and it makes them pause...especially when they want more RAM, storage, a keyboard and Office.

Try a Win 8.1 tablet with those three monitors and an external keyboard and mouse. You might be surprised that the right tablet is not really a compromise when a few peripherals are added for the desktop experience. I've been using a Dell Venue 8 Pro for the past several weeks and I'm very surprised how good the tablet side is. I'm equally amazed how well desktop apps work. I already had a BT mouse and keyboard and I purchased a Miracast dongle for my HDMI TV. Suddenly it's a great desktop too.

All this from a $229 device (Microcenter holiday price) that included Home/Student version of Office. Although it's no match for the raw power of my core i-5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD laptop, Intel has done a heckuva job with the Bay Trail Atom SOC. It's so good, it doesn't deserve the Atom namesake. I can only imagine how capable a Haswell-based tablet is. If the Venue 8 Pro had a Haswell, more RAM and USB 3.0, I'd get rid of my laptop as I'd have no use for it.